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ASEAN Initiatives Face Strong Headwinds

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  At a joint press conference with U.S. secretary of state John Kerry in Washington, D.C., in February, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi assured his audience that, compared with other parts of the world, the South China Sea was stable. To be sure, the Spratly Islands are not Syria. The geopolitical stakes, however, are arguably much higher than in the Middle East, and since the beginning of 2016, events have suggested that the South China Sea is becoming more and more tumultuous by the week. In March, for instance, the Philippines alleged that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and… Read More »ASEAN Initiatives Face Strong Headwinds

Whither the Honest Broker? Indonesia and the South China Sea

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The incursion on March 19–20, 2016, by two armed China Coast Guard ships into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 4.34 kilometers off the Natuna Islands, sparked tensions on a new front in the South China Sea. The incident has again raised the question of where Indonesia stands on the disputes—both as a potential party and as a leader within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The incident began when a patrol boat from the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) seized a 300-metric-ton Chinese fishing boat, the Kway Fey 10078, and arrested its eight crew members for… Read More »Whither the Honest Broker? Indonesia and the South China Sea

The Role of Energy in Disputes over the South China Sea

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The intensifying disputes over control of the South China Sea are ultimately rooted in disagreements over national sovereignty, territorial control, and the rising power of China as it intersects with the existing East Asian maritime security order dominated by the United States. That said, within this broad context there are different layers of competition that act as multipliers for rising South China Sea tensions. Competition for control of potential energy resources and key energy transit routes through the South China Sea and Malacca Strait stands out as one critical factor that has heightened the stakes in the complex matrix of… Read More »The Role of Energy in Disputes over the South China Sea

The U.S.-China Battle in the Post-Arbitration South China Sea: Diverging and Converging Interests

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One incident after another has played out across the stage of the South China Sea since 2009, the year Malaysia and Vietnam filed a joint submission on the limits of their continental shelf claims with a UN commission. The tension in the South China Sea further escalated in January 2013, when the Philippines initiated an arbitration proceeding against China under the dispute resolution terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since then, land reclamation activities and protests in response, the legal battle between China and the Philippines, a series of U.S. freedom of navigation… Read More »The U.S.-China Battle in the Post-Arbitration South China Sea: Diverging and Converging Interests

Defense Treaties

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U.S.-Japan Security Treaty Between the United States of American and Japan (September 8, 1951) U.S.-Japan Security Treaty (January 19, 1960) The Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation (November 27, 1978) The Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation (September 23, 1997) The Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation (April 27, 2015) U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty Between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America (August 30, 1951) Reaffirmation through the Manila Declaration (November 11, 2011) Visiting Forces Agreement (June 1, 1999) Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (April 28, 2014) U.S.-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of… Read More »Defense Treaties

Maritime Delimitation Agreements and Decisions

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China and the Philippines Merits award in the matter of the South China Sea arbitration before an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China. Published July 12, 2016. China and Vietnam Agreement between the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam on the Delimitation of the Territorial Seas, the Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelves. Signed December 25, 2000, entered into force June 30, 2004. Malaysia and Indonesia Treaty between the Republic of Indonesia… Read More »Maritime Delimitation Agreements and Decisions

M. Taylor Fravel

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M. Taylor Fravel is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and member of the Security Studies Program at MIT. Taylor is a graduate of Middlebury College and Stanford University, where he received his PhD. He has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, a Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, a Fellow with the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program and a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also has graduate degrees from the London School of Economics… Read More »M. Taylor Fravel

Roy D. Kamphausen

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Roy D. Kamphausen is President of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). Mr. Kamphausen joined NBR in 2004 and formerly served as Senior Vice President for Research, providing executive leadership to NBR’s policy research agenda and directing engagement with the administration, U.S. Congress, and foreign embassies in Washington, D.C. In April 2018, Mr. Kamphausen was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to be a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. As a specialist on a range of U.S.-Asia issues, Mr. Kamphausen has led and contributed substantively to NBR’s research initiatives. He is the author, contributing… Read More »Roy D. Kamphausen

Security and Cooperation Agreements

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U.S.-China Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China Regarding the Rules of Behavior for Air Safety and Maritime Encounters (November 9-10, 2014) Supplement to the Memorandum of Understanding On the Rules of Behavior for Safety Of Air and Maritime Encounters between the Department of Defense of the United States of America And the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China (“Air-to-Air Annex”) (September 15 and 18, 2015) Multilateral 1971 Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) – United Kingdom, Australia,… Read More »Security and Cooperation Agreements

Factsheet: Submarine Cables

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Backgrounder One of the most critical pieces of global infrastructure is the intercontinental network of undersea fiber-optic cables. This communications network transmits daily approximately $10 trillion in financial transactions data throughout the global economy and is the vehicle for over 97% of all transoceanic information and telecommunications traffic, enabling worldwide Internet availability and other network services. Every day, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) transmits 15 million messages between more than 8,300 banking organizations, securities institutions, and corporate customers across and within upwards of 195 countries worldwide. The low bandwidth and high latency of satellite data service make… Read More »Factsheet: Submarine Cables